LIBRARY HOURS

Monday to Friday - 9AM to 9PM
Saturdays - 9AM to 6PM
(Closed on Wednesday from 12PM - 2PM for Chapel & Staff Lunch)
(Last transaction - 15 min. before closing)

The BGST library has about 41, 244 items. The main collections are:

Floor plan of the School (view layout)

The library has particularly strong resources in biblical studies and theology.

In April 2005, the library catalog was made available on the Internet with the help of VTEC Systems. Besides multiple access, the web OPAC (On-line Public Access Catalogue) enables users to perform advance searches, save their bibliographical searches, renew their loans, book or reserve items remotely.

We are thankful to God for this good collection of resource material. We hope to serve the library needs of the BGST family and the Christian community at large efficiently.

MEMBERSHIP

Library membership is open to all Christian. Membership for students is free while members pay a refundable deposit of $100 and an annual membership fee of $50. In 2007, the annual membership fee of $50 is waived to allow more Christians to benefit from our resources. Click here to apply for membership online.

Students in the Master Programmes are entitled to loan out a total of 20 items. Other students are entitled to loan out a total of 10 items. Alumni and non-students are entitled to a total of 5 items.

For the above membership types, the loan duration is determined by the loan policies in the various collections.

BROWSING THE LIBRARY ONLINE

To check the catalogue of the library, click to go to Vlib WebOPAC.

To check journal article citations, indexes and full-texts, click to go to EBSCOhost. This subscription began in Nov 2008. The ATLA Religion Database™ with ATLASerials™ is found in EBSCOhost.

• ATLA Religion Database™ with ATLASerials™ combines the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion with ATLA's online collection of major religion and theology journals. The ATLA Religion Database includes more than 537,000 article citations from more than 1,633 journals (518 currently indexed), more than 225,000 essay citations from over 18,700 multi-author works, more than 494,000 book review citations, and a growing number of multimedia citations. This database begins in 1949 although indexing for some journal titles extends back into the nineteenth century. Full text is provided for more than 238,000 electronic articles and book reviews, from more than 100 journals selected by leading religion scholars in the United States. This database is produced by the American Theological Library Association.
• 130 over journals are available in ATLASerials (view here)
• Please email: lib@bgst.edu.sg
• 5 steps to enable you to read all articles in a (full-text) journal.
  
  1. Type the journal title in the 1st blank window and select field “SO Source”,
  2. Ensure the Boolean operator is “AND”
  3. Type the year (e.g. 2008) in the next blank window. Select the field “YR Year Published”.
  4. Use “Filter by Publication Date” on the right to sort the search by date order.
  5. Scroll down to the desired issue and read on!

We have a compilation that will help you to locate journals in Singapore but not available in BGST (discover here). For journals available in BGST library please use the OPAC to verify that the issue you need is available in the journal collection or view our serial list.

For National Library Board eResources, click to go to the NLB eResources. This is a free service provided for all Singaporeans. The 3 e-databases that may be helpful to your research are JSOTR, EBSCOhost Academic and Proquest Religion. Registration is required to view these resources. For assistance, please inquire at the service counter. 

For other electronic resources, use the OPAC, select browse on the left menu and from the Browse-drop-down menu select  "Electronic Resources by Call No.", then click on browse. A list of electronic resources will be displayed on screen.

LAYOUT

The library is at the entrance of the school. All the collections (except for the Closed Stacks) are found on the right of the school (Yellow area). The Current Journal Location is located at the back of the library along with the Study Area. When necessary the training room #1 may be use as a study area.  

The Reference Collection is located on the left of the library along white wooden shelves and blue metal shelves.

The Lending Collection begins on open shelves next to the Reference Collection. It snakes around the open shelves to the back of the library and continues with Dewey Decimal number 230 in the Compactus.

At the end of the Lending Collection is the Bound Journals Collection. This is shelved in the opposite direction and starts in alphabethical order from the library office.

The  audio, CD-ROM and MP3 collections are located next to the BGST counter.

The DVD and VCD collections are located at the beginning of the Reference Collection.

Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) are located in the front and back of the library.

The Closed Stack Collection is mainly located on the right wall of the library. The rest of the collection are located at Training Room #2 area. For your own safety, please consult the library staff with regards to retrieving books from this collection.

A photocopying machine is available for use at the back of the library. It is located near the Lending Collection, Dewey Decimal 230 area.

EXTERNAL RESOURCES

• English Dictionary - http://dictionary.com
• Newspapers - http://newspapers.nl.sg
  NewspaperSG is an online resource of current and historic Singapore and Malaya newspapers.
  NewspaperSG Offers:
  - Access to digital copies of Singapore newspapers
  - Extensive and comprehensive backfiles of Singapore newspapers
  - Content searchable by keyword, date range, and content type
  - Free search* (* standard multimedia charges apply for searches done at NLB multimedia stations)
  - Viewing of selected articles from your home, office, etc.
  - Information on over 200 newspaper titles in National Library Singapore's microfilm collection